League of Legends Introduces New Dragon Champion

Ao Shin still work in progress, may be most OP champion yet

League of Legends developers Riot Games shared a sneak peak at a unique new champion in development; the dragon Ao Shin.

Ao Shin is not just any ordinary dragon, even by League of Legends standards. He is a storm dragon and one of nature’s guardians. In League of Legends’ lore, when Iona faces its greatest crisis, AoShin will descend from the sky.

They expand on this further, explaining that Ao is a family name for the dragon kings. Shin is a word with multiple meanings, including prosperity, as well as describing a rising storm. As League of Legends explains, Ao Shin merges these different etymological aspects into one character, able to rain good fortune to allies, and raising storm and thunder against his enemies.

Ao Shin’s concept art shows a vaporlike creature, taking different forms as he launches different attacks. There is a pulsing energy surrounding his body that he can harness to create thunderbolts, clouds, and hurricanes. One particular pic shows what is implied to be a gigantic tornado.

Remember that this character is still a work in progress, so we have yet to see if and how AoShin will be balanced out compared to other champions, his abilities and weaknesses, and so forth. As Riot Games puts it, they hope to push technical and creative limits with each new champion they bring in. As such, AoShin will have a unique anatomy and movement that RiotGames hopes they can incorporate to the rest of the game.

Is there any doubt in anyone's minds that this character won't be OP? Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see the big fella in action.